Anyone who spends time photographing landscapes has experienced the moment when a scene stops them in their tracks. The light, the atmosphere, the overall feeling of a place – something elicits a response and captures your imagination. Instinctively, you reach for your camera.

Why is it, though, that sometimes the photo you make doesn’t reflect what you saw?

Even more important, what if the best way to photograph a scene isn’t to try to capture it exactly as your eyes see it?

The answer to both questions is that, while humans and cameras both "see," they do so in very different ways. Each has capabilities and limitations the other doesn't share. Neither is superior; each one offers something valuable. And therein lies the opportunity! A good photographer learns to see the world twice: first through human eyes, and then through the eyes of the camera.

The camera doesn't know what caught our attention or made us stop and say, "Wow!" It simply records what we tell it to record. Fortunately, we have an extraordinary number of ways to do that. We can employ those options to interpret scenes in ways that are expressive, unexpected, and uniquely our own.

Consider what happens when we begin thinking like the camera:

•We can include an expansive vista or narrow our attention to a single compelling detail.

•We can use a wide perspective to emphasize vastness or choose a longer focal length to bring distant elements together visually.

•We can freeze a moment in time or allow time itself to become part of the photograph.

•We can preserve intricate details or use softer focus to emphasize a particular element.

•We can make the light itself the subject.

•We can explore an unusual perspective.

Each offers a different interpretation. Recognizing how and when to use these capabilities is the “secret sauce” to creating more compelling images.

Photographer as Interpreter

Imagine standing outside on a dark night, watching the Northern Lights. To your eyes, the display might be very faint: almost a ghostly glow on the horizon, perhaps with just a suggestion of green. It's unusual and it’s interesting, but it probably doesn’t come close to resembling spectacular photographs you've seen of the Aurora.

However, a photographer who understands the camera's way of seeing recognizes the implications of how the camera accumulates light over a period of time. With an appropriate exposure, that faint glow can become much more pronounced, revealing colors, structure, and patterns of movement that weren't readily apparent to the naked eye.

Instead of asking, "What am I seeing?" the photographer thinks, "What is my camera capable of seeing here, and how can I use that capability to reveal what's happening?" Those are two very different ways of looking at the same scene. The magic starts to happen when the photographer understands both.

The camera expands our vision by revealing what we can’t readily see, and by interpreting what we can see in unusual ways.

The photograph below, captured in Grand Teton National Park, is an example of just one of the many ways the camera can augment human vision. An hour before sunrise, the full harvest moon illuminated the mountain peaks while the surrounding landscape remained quite dark. Leaving the shutter open for roughly one minute allowed the camera to capture the subtle light and rich color of the scene while softening its appearance, particularly the clouds.

Both the quality of light and color of the sky are unusual: this clearly isn’t daytime, nor is it sunrise. It’s the camera’s interpretation of the way the moon lit this scene.

Other situations where the camera sees differently

•Waterfalls and moving water

Our eyes see flowing water as continuous movement. The camera can freeze individual droplets or transform the water into a silky, almost ethereal element. Two entirely different interpretations of the same scene.

•Star photography

We look up and see a dark sky sprinkled with stars. The camera, given sufficient exposure, can reveal the Milky Way, subtle colors and details of the night sky, and even star trails – things our eyes cannot discern.

•Fog and mist

Our eyes may struggle to distinguish the subtle gradations of a foggy landscape. The camera can record those delicate tonal differences and turn an otherwise seemingly featureless scene into something beautifully dimensional.

•Very bright and very dark scenes

Our eyes can adapt to a remarkable range of lighting conditions, often allowing us to see detail in both very bright and very dark areas. The camera has more limited dynamic range in a single exposure, requiring us to make decisions about which elements are most important to preserve.

The Stages of Seeing

Translating an experience into an image involves three distinct ways of seeing:

Seeing as a Human

The inspiration. What attracts you? What makes you pause? How does it make you feel? What do you want to remember about this place?

Seeing as the Camera Sees

The exploration. What are the camera's capabilities? What different interpretations are possible? What can it reveal, emphasize, or transform?

Seeing as a Photographer

The interpretation. Which combination of human perception and camera capability will best communicate the experience? Your artistic judgment determines which possibilities best express your original vision.

Developing the ability to move fluidly between these three perspectives helps us become better photographers.

The next time you encounter a compelling scene, resist the temptation to immediately settle on a composition. Take a moment to consider what attracted you to the scene, then consider what your camera might do with it. How do you want to bring those two perspectives together?

Ultimately, the camera is neither the artist nor the storyteller. It is the instrument through which we express our vision. When we understand and take full advantage of its unique capabilities, our creative possibilities expand enormously. The magic happens when we combine those capabilities with our own perceptions, imagination, and appreciation of the natural world.

The landscape provides the inspiration. The camera provides the possibilities. The photographer provides the interpretation.